GREENFIELD, Ind. – It’s a heartless crime, stealing from the dead. Greenfield police say someone targeted the Park Cemetery and stole antique flower pot urns.
This is the second time someone has stolen the urn planters. Now, they have video that leads them to believe it’s the same guy that struck just last year.
“But we finally found the person and he was in and out in 20 minutes. He looked like he was a professional and knew what he was doing,” said Tyler Rankins, Greenfield’s street commissioner.
Sunday morning surveillance video caught a man stealing the urn planters or flower pots. The street commissioner turned to surveillance footage after the cemetery foreman noticed about five of the flower pots were gone. They spotted a burgundy Dodge caravan possibly from the 2001-2007 model years on camera.
“We believe they are traveling to Indiana and maybe even other states to steal urns,” Greenfield Det. Lt. Randy Ratliff said.
Greenfield police believe it’s the same man who stole 18 flower pots last year. Back then, a different burgundy van with Ohio plates was spotted on video. They believe whoever is doing this is coming from Ohio and targeting cemeteries along U.S. 40.
“We’re hoping somebody has contact with them or recognizes the vehicle. We’re able to tell on the video the suspect is a white male, he’s at least 6 foot tall and probably from the video heavyset. So we’re just hoping that somebody’s had contact with him and is familiar with somebody selling these urns,” Ratliff said.
Some of the urn planters date back to the 1900s and the cemetery doesn’t have family members to contact. However, they want the community to know they’re committed to keeping the grounds safe.
“This is a place of peace. I mean we call it park cemetery it should be a park setting you know peaceful and when we have people coming in like that it’s not a very peaceful place anymore,” Rankins said.
We checked online and those antique urn planters start out around $50 and go into the thousands. If you have any information about who could be responsible give the Greenfield police department a call at 317-477-4410.
